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How many bottles of whiskey do you have open?


Bret Bret
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4 hours ago, Paddy said:

Earlier this year, many here discussed thinning the herd (ie, bunker).  I thought a good way to start was by culling down the opens, which I've done.  I'm not going to actually count them, but my best bet is that I'm now down in the 30-35 range.   

Yup - concentrating on thinning DID reduce the clunkers taking up space. Since 1 JAN 2019, I have dispatched seven (7) of them plus three more of those which were unopened.  Downside is, I had to open things I like (which also have since been finished) to wash the "other" taste out of my mouth.  Thus, including the specials (like GTS 2014, 2018 and Michael Collins Irish Single Malt), decanters, and vattings, I have 20-30 opened(I'm guessing) NOT counting six Irish and some scotches and also not counting non-whiskey distilled spirits or my WT 101 flask in my fishing gear.  That's about what I had open a couple years ago when this topic came up.

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Im pretty bad on open bottles.  Never have more than 4 or 5.   Once opened , they die an accelerated death.

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3 minutes ago, troyce said:

Im pretty bad on open bottles.  Never have more than 4 or 5.   Once opened , they die an accelerated death.

Ditto.. I’m your neighbor in that camp.. ;) 

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Well all this counting made me wonder so, went down stairs and counted.  Bourbons & Ryes, a total of 76 open.  Throw in a bottle of rum, a bottle of vodka and the odd other bottle total would be around 85.  If I have a bottle of bourbon or rye not open it has either just been purchased or is a duplicate for the bunker.

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29.  I feel like it's too many, though.  Harder to keep track of the different flavors.  I'm trying to drink some down and aim to only have 15 or so open.

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Several.

LOL! The biggest understatement post in this entire thread! [emoji6]
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I had 80+ open at the beginning of winter but I've worked hard at getting that down to about 45 now.

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8 hours ago, PaulO said:

Several big shelves full, Ha-ha

More like big shelving units :) 

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On 4/8/2019 at 10:20 PM, flahute said:

Last night I had a pour of Saz18 from a bottle that only had a couple inches in the bottom. It's been that way for more than a year. It tasted fantastic with no degradation.

I think the fear of oxygen exposure is overblown.

I am starting to think the opposite in re: oxygen exposure.  I generally find that the final sips of most pours are the best , from the nose to the palate and mouthfeel through to the finish.  I also tend to think that bottles start to "open up" after being cracked. and given some time to rest  Unfortunately, this runs entirely opposite with my opening/rapidly drinking bottles and not leaving many to "air out"  I am curious to see what I end up doing once I end up with a larger bar and more space for bottles.   

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6 hours ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

I am starting to think the opposite in re: oxygen exposure.  I generally find that the final sips of most pours are the best , from the nose to the palate and mouthfeel through to the finish.  I also tend to think that bottles start to "open up" after being cracked. and given some time to rest  Unfortunately, this runs entirely opposite with my opening/rapidly drinking bottles and not leaving many to "air out"  I am curious to see what I end up doing once I end up with a larger bar and more space for bottles.   

Doesn't have to run opposite. I like to open a bottle, have 2-3 pours, then leave it alone several weeks to open up. I usually have 20-30 open, so its not hard to leave it alone. Unless its one of those bottles that catches your attention or curiosity so hard that you cant avoid it. 

 

To me it seems to be the higher proof stuff doesnt flatten as much after a year+ open.

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I think you guys are leaving too much up to chance with the air time, and simply waiting for the developments.  Better to seize control of the lives of your whiskies with a simple Feng Shui bottle alignment from your local Shaman.  

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8 hours ago, Whiskeythink.com said:

Doesn't have to run opposite.

My WTRB bottle opened last Saturday and currently on its last 20% (despite my drinking from other bottles several times) begs to differ. :)

 

5 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

I think you guys are leaving too much up to chance with the air time, and simply waiting for the developments.  Better to seize control of the lives of your whiskies with a simple Feng Shui bottle alignment from your local Shaman.  

 

You know, I'm trying but my local Bourbon Shaman has a 15 month waiting list .   And its just too complicated of a procedure with all the  variables like fill levels/ambient temperatures that are constantly changing for me to handle on my own.   The boom is real.

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9 minutes ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

My WTRB bottle opened last Saturday and currently on its last 20% (despite my drinking from other bottles several times) begs to differ. :)

 

 

You know, I'm trying but my local Bourbon Shaman has a 15 month waiting list .   And its just too complicated of a procedure with all the  variables like fill levels/ambient temperatures that are constantly changing for me to handle on my own.   The boom is real.

Tell me about it...My go to had been Luopan GrandMaster Po for decades, but he retired to The Villages in Florida at the end of last year, and I’ve had a dickens of a time finding a good replacement.  BIGRICH referred his own “GrandMaster” to me, but when the guy showed up wearing nothing but a paisley cravat and a Buick Electra 225 hubcap for his Luopan, I slammed the door and called the cops.  I’m taking on-line classes though, and if I get good, I’ll advertise here.  :D

 

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Tell me about it...My go to had been Luopan GrandMaster Po for decades, but he retired to The Villages in Florida at the end of last year, and I’ve had a dickens of a time finding a good replacement.  BIGRICH referred his own “GrandMaster” to me, but when the guy showed up wearing nothing but a paisley cravat and a Buick Electra 225 hubcap for his Luopan, I slammed the door and called the cops.  I’m taking on-line classes though, and if I get good, I’ll advertise here.  [emoji3]
 

You will never grow as a person if you don’t embrace new experiences.
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10-12 open at a time usually. I also try to keep a sub $20 BIB in the decanter for cocktails when guests are over. 

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About 80. If I buy something, I usually open it right away for the tasting. If it is a duplicate, it goes in the bunker until it’s predecessor gives up the ghost. 

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On 4/10/2019 at 4:57 PM, Bob_Loblaw said:

I am starting to think the opposite in re: oxygen exposure.  I generally find that the final sips of most pours are the best , from the nose to the palate and mouthfeel through to the finish.  I also tend to think that bottles start to "open up" after being cracked. and given some time to rest  Unfortunately, this runs entirely opposite with my opening/rapidly drinking bottles and not leaving many to "air out"  I am curious to see what I end up doing once I end up with a larger bar and more space for bottles.   

I think the topic of oxidation is a very nuanced one and that the discussions here (and elsewhere) tend to focus too much on the question of yes or no which then gets applied to all situations.

Do we know that oxidation happens? Yes. Nancy talks about the oxidative process that happens in the barrel and how important that is to the maturation of the whiskey and for slowly removing some of the off putting flavors.

 

Most of us have also experienced falling asleep with a small amount of whiskey still in the glass and find the next morning that it's turned cloudy. Oxidation, evaporation.

Whiskey in a sealed bottle is a different matter of course. Every time you pour, a small amount of of oxygen is introduced but it only gets to interact with a small surface area in the bottle, and, it's a limited supply. Is it enough to notice? Wade did some experiments and the answer was no. Breaking Bourbon did their 24 month experiment with various fill levels and different storage conditions. They found that very slight differences were possible depending on the situation. Nothing extreme however.

This is why many of us here believe that the "air time" and "open up" comments are not rooted in scientifically verifiable situations. It's most likely explained by palate variation.

 

The only example I personally know of where oxidation was the likely culprit was a co-worker's bottle of OFBB. I have bottles of the same year bought at the same time as his so I know what it tastes like. His bottle was more than half empty and sat for a couple years in a cool dark place. It became undrinkable. Those squat wide bottles offer up a large surface area for interaction to occur. 

So, even though I'm a skeptic, I'm at least not going to let a similar thing happen to any future bottle of OFBB that I open.

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